U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) is urging Congress to strip over $500 million from the only federal program that provides housing funding for people living with HIV/AIDS.
“AIDS is a horrific disease and we have lots of horrific diseases in our country,” said Congressman Davidson, speaking on the House floor Tuesday. “But we don’t have programs for everybody that gets a disease.”
“We don’t have programs specifically for people that get cancer, for example. We have programs for AIDS because when AIDS was first spreading, people didn’t understand it. They thought it was spread, you know, like a contagion, that you could get it just because you lived in the same housing development as someone else.”
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“Now that we properly understand AIDS, you don’t have the same kind of denial of access to housing for people,” Congressman Davidson claimed.
The U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) last year noted, “Research shows that a stable home is critical to the well-being of persons living with HIV/AIDS, and results in better health outcomes and reduced transmission of the disease.”
Congressman Davidson said people living with AIDS “would still have access to housing, if they qualify for need-based assistance, just like every other American. It doesn’t eliminate the safety net, but it eliminates this special favored treatment. Why is that important? Well, look, we gotta cut something.”
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